My adventure dealing with very dirty (and some mold) grout in bathroom/shower

[Jingthing]

I will mention I did a test area of applying the paste, letting it sit, and then just rinsing on a regular dirty area no mold. It worked about 80 percent. So may as well do some very light scrubbing with a grout brush to really do it. 

Keep in my my method is only for a small area. Not a massive project.

[Lacessit]

Bleach needs to be fairly strong to penetrate the biomass of mould, so there is an odor problem.

I have yet to find a mould that did not curl up its toes and die using 5% copper sulphate solution. Spray on, leave for 24 hours, rinse away and wipe off. It's actually quite acidic, eye protection recommended.

[Mr Meeseeks]

Forget those bathroom cleaners and bleach. Tried all of them and this is what you need. 

Thai Watsadu sell it. Its not cheap but it dyes remaining mould and prevents it coming back. 

[lopburi3]

This is advertised as for mold removal.

[Airalee]

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

 

The Duck brand cleaner costs less than fifty baht a liter, so while it is more expensive than bleach, to say it's wasting money might be a stretch. It cleans most everything in the bathroom quickly and easily, including but not limited to: soap scum, mold, mildew, and hardwater stains. 

 

Bleach is fine, but you splash it on one pair of trousers or a nice shirt and there goes a ten year supply of bathroom cleaner...

You clean your bathroom wearing trousers and a nice shirt?  

[Jingthing]

10 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

This is advertised as for mold removal.

I'm guessing products like that are very toxic. I really need to avoid breathing in such harsh chemicals for health reasons. 

I will add my problem was probably 95 percent just dirty grout, and 5 percent mold. There were some localized areas of mold. That's all. They are gone now. Yes, I realize they might come back. Cheers.

[PatOngo]

31 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Duh. I know bleach is sold in Thailand. I was talking about another product that is a bleach gel sold for cleaning toilet bowls but widely promoted on youtube for grout cleaning. Specifically the Lysol and Clorox brands. Apparently not sold in Thailand.

Duck is not the same.

Try a bottle of Lao Khao mixed with half a bottle of coca cola! Available at any 7/11! Just be careful to protect any taps, floor drains and metal ware against corrosion!

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

But this topic is about cleaning dirty grout. Did you somehow miss that?

Was Gunderhill not talking about cleaning the walls & floor of the shower, which is where the grouting is?

[NCC1701A]

along the lines of Cinderella, I show my girlfriends to the bathroom and proclaim:

 

"The girl that can remove all the mold I shall marry. No purchase is necessary to enter the contest and some behavior will increase the odds of winning. You may only enter the contest in the following way: via FWB ONS, Thaifriendly, Tinder, Instagram or Badoo. No other method of entry will be accepted. Limit one (1) entry per person except in the case of two of more acting as a team, per LINE account and per accounts mentioned above per contest, regardless of method of entry. Additional entries beyond the specified limit will be void."

[Jingthing]

Its amazing what comes out in a topic about cleaning dirty grout. Not that I'm surprised mind you.

[Yellowtail]

46 minutes ago, Airalee said:

You clean your bathroom wearing trousers and a nice shirt?  

 

Yes, is that unusual? Do you not wear a shirt and trousers around the house?

 

To be clear, bleach will also damage cargo-shorts and Chang tee-shirts. Of course one could always go "commando", but then the spatters may be a little painful...

 

 

[Airalee]

2 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

 

Yes, is that unusual? Do you not wear a shirt and trousers around the house?

 

To be clear, bleach will also damage cargo-shorts and Chang tee-shirts. Of course one could always go "commando", but then the spatters may be a little painful...

 

 

No...I can’t say that I usually wear a nice shirt and trousers around the house.  I’m a little more laid back than that.  Don’t own cargo shorts or any “Chang” shirts either...not like it matters to me, but I understand that it has been the passive aggressive put down here on TV for as long as I’ve been around.  
 

But hey...if you feel the need to dress up while scrubbing the bathroom...no problem.  You do you.

[Jingthing]

OK, here's another related aspect of this that I reckon will get some people riled up.

But really, what doesn't get some people riled up?

 

Anyway a common theme on youtube videos is the amazing qualities of DAWN dish soap for many cleaning purposes, including the bathroom.

 

For example a typical suggestion is to mix 1/2 Dawn and 1/2 Vinegar in a spray bottle and douse your shower in that, let it sit, then rinse, and so much dirt, grime, and soap scum will magically go away (no scrubbing). But I didn't see any claims that that would clean dirty grout.

 

Dawn is a U.S. brand. Some people say that Fairy (don't laugh) is the rough European equivalent. 

 

But I have inferred that there is something extra special in Dawn (or Fairy) that is not in other dishwashing soaps.

 

Dawn or Fairy are not sold in Thailand. I don't think there is any equivalent to Dawn or Fairy sold in Thailand. I welcome being corrected.

Edited January 31, 2021 by Jingthing

[canopy]

19 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I wanted to avoid bleach products to avoid toxic fumes

Apply bleach in the evening, close the bathroom door, and in the morning remove the bleach. No fumes in the house to deal with. It's just not a big deal for something you do so seldom like once a year.

 

Everything has disadvantages. If you discard an idea because you can think of a single disadvantage there will be nothing left. Bleach is excellent for a cheap price, ease of effort, and long lasting results which are the main areas most people want. Of course bleach has disadvantages like you probably shouldn't wear your favorite outfit when applying it, but again this doesn't necessarily mean it isn't a better solution for the job when comparing to far worse disadvantages of other products.

 

[Tracyb]

There is a bleach based product widely available.  The name of it is Promax.  I buy mine at TOPS Supermarket.  I use it in the shower.  Works great!  Another option is to put regular laundry bleach into a spray bottle and spray it directly onto the tile and grout.  It’s 5%hypochlorite and is ok without rinsing afterwards.  

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, canopy said:

Apply bleach in the evening, close the bathroom door, and in the morning remove the bleach. No fumes in the house to deal with. It's just not a big deal for something you do so seldom like once a year.

 

Everything has disadvantages. If you discard an idea because you can think of a single disadvantage there will be nothing left. Bleach is excellent for a cheap price, ease of effort, and long lasting results which are the main areas most people want. Of course bleach has disadvantages like you probably shouldn't wear your favorite outfit when applying it, but again this doesn't necessarily mean it isn't a better solution for the job when comparing to far worse disadvantages of other products.

 

My method worked well without bleach.

If I had had access to the U S  brands bleach based gel toilet bowl cleaners I would have tried that though. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Jingthing

[HarrySeaman]

Bleach will get rid of the mold you see but bleach leaves behind a residue that promotes new mold growth.  If you use bleach follow it with plain distilled vinegar and you won't have the mold growing back nearly as fast.

[Yellowtail]

2 hours ago, canopy said:

Apply bleach in the evening, close the bathroom door, and in the morning remove the bleach. No fumes in the house to deal with. It's just not a big deal for something you do so seldom like once a year.

 

Everything has disadvantages. If you discard an idea because you can think of a single disadvantage there will be nothing left. Bleach is excellent for a cheap price, ease of effort, and long lasting results which are the main areas most people want. Of course bleach has disadvantages like you probably shouldn't wear your favorite outfit when applying it, but again this doesn't necessarily mean it isn't a better solution for the job when comparing to far worse disadvantages of other products.

 

 

The days when I could close the door to the bathroom and plan on not opening it until morning are long gone....

 

 

[RocketDog]

On 1/31/2021 at 7:33 AM, canopy said:

 

It is sold in Thailand. It's called bleach. That's right, plain, simple, cheap, old bleach you can find anywhere. Bleach is the simplest, easiest choice ideal for lazy people that removes 100% of mold with no scrubbing and no tools whatsoever and is so long lasting that I find only needs performed once a year.

 

 

Several people on this thread advocate bleach. For me as an American that means the popular Chlorox brand bleach. 

The only bleach I've been able to find in stores here is watered down to the point of uselessness and loaded with perfumes and other non-active ingredients. 

 

I would greatly appreciate a brand name or picture of what you use. I assume from all these posts that what they mention is not the weak product I've named. 

The me real bleach has a very sharp and offensive smell and is best handled with gloves. If used in a excess it will weaken the cotton in undershirts, etc to the point of making holes. If dropped on colored cloth it does what it says: it bleaches the cloth white. 

 

Thanks for help from anybody on this thread. 

 

[lopburi3]

14 minutes ago, RocketDog said:

Several people on this thread advocate bleach. For me as an American that means the popular Chlorox brand bleach. 

The only bleach I've been able to find in stores here is watered down to the point of uselessness and loaded with perfumes and other non-active ingredients. 

 

I would greatly appreciate a brand name or picture of what you use. I assume from all these posts that what they mention is not the weak product I've named. 

The me real bleach has a very sharp and offensive smell and is best handled with gloves. If used in a excess it will weaken the cotton in undershirts, etc to the point of making holes. If dropped on colored cloth it does what it says: it bleaches the cloth white. 

 

Thanks for help from anybody on this thread. 

 

This is the normal bleach here - you did not name it so not sure if same as you used or not - Haiter

[Tanoshi]

Caustic soda mixed with a little water into a paste. Apply to grout with tooth brush.

Spray lightly with white vinegar and watch it fizz.

Leave to soak, rinse off.

 

If it's the smell of solutions that bother you, firstly try Coca Cola or standard tooth paste.

[RocketDog]

Just now, lopburi3 said:

This is the normal bleach here - you did not name it so not sure if same as you used or not - Haiter

Yes. This brand is what my GF uses, but not sure which variant though. If it is the same as she uses then it's the weak solution with perfumes that I referred too. 

 

Thanks for the picture. 

I'm coming up the conclusion that the familiar chlorox brand or a direct equivalent is not considered safe and not sold here in consumer stores. Maybe I'm wrong. That despite the fact that EXTREMELY dangerous sodium hydroxide is widely available in grocery stores. 

 

"The chemical formula for Clorox regular bleach is water, sodium hypochlorite, sodium chloride, sodium carbonate, sodium chlorate, sodium hydroxide and sodium polyacrylate. Its name derives from chlorine and sodium hydroxide, which are the two main ingredients."

So what I want is sodium hypochlorite, 5% or more strength. Chlorox contains sodium hydroxide as well as table salt. So maybe sodium hydroxide will work well on mold. It destroys pretty much anything organic, including skin. ????

Sodium hypochlorite is available from pool supply stores but I don't want 10 gallons of it. 30% hydrochloric acid is also available from pool stores and I use it (diluted) to clean the salt cell in my pool. It is very dangerous to handle too but is a great way to clean the hairs from your nose along with a layer of skin. !  It might also work for mold. 

Thanks for your reply. I'll show my lady. 

[RocketDog]

Just now, Tanoshi said:

Caustic soda mixed with a little water into a paste. Apply to grout with tooth brush.

Spray lightly with white vinegar and watch it fizz.

Leave to soak, rinse off.

 

If it's the smell of solutions that bother you, firstly try Coca Cola or standard tooth paste.

So it appears that either strong acids or strong bases both work on mold. 

Good to know. 

Note that the vinegar is neutralizing some of hydroxide but maybe the bubbling action is good for cleaning. 

[thepdru]

Thank you, great photo to clearly understand what you are talking about ????

 

[Jingthing]

My understanding is that Hydrogren peroxide is excellent for killing mold. Mixed with water and sprayed. But adding the baking soda helps cleaning in general. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Jingthing

[gunderhill]

23 hours ago, Jingthing said:

But this topic is about cleaning dirty grout. Did you somehow miss that?

Well you go ahead and enjoy repeating your  cleaning.....again and  again and  again and  again, it  must be  a  Thai  thing, reactive not proactive.

Edited February 1, 2021 by gunderhill

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, RocketDog said:

So what I want is sodium hypochlorite, 5% or more strength.

Easily found on lazada, as are all the other chemicals.

Edited February 1, 2021 by sometimewoodworker

[mr_lob]

My life was devoid of rock n roll...then i read this post

[orchidlady]

On 1/31/2021 at 1:43 AM, Jingthing said:

Well things got bad enough so that I finally have to deal with it. 

 

So I just wanted to share my experience doing so as it may be useful to others, and of course other people will vehemently disagree and say their solution is much better.

 

Anyway my problem is fairly limited in area so that makes a big difference. If I needed to clean the grout in my entire condo I would seek a more hard core solution or maybe pay for help. 

 

In any case, as I haven't done this before, I did what people do these days to find out about such things -- youtube.

 

Ideally of course you won't need to get down on the floor and scrub so the answer many people had for that was bleach based toilet cleaner gels.  Apply to grout without getting down on the floor, wait a certain amount of time, and then just wet mop up.  But these sorts of bleach based toilet cleaner gels don't seem to exist in Thailand although you can order very expensively to have them shipped in from the U.S. via China. But bleach is very toxic and best avoided if you can anyway.

 

There are also custom products that supposedly work the same way without scrubbing such as something like Grout-eez which doesn't appear to be sold in Thailand. Perhaps there are equivalents to that at the hardware stores here. I didn't even check.  Maybe someone can suggest a locally sold product for that. 

 

So then I looked into some more expensive methods. Buy an electric drill (which I don't have) and attach a scrubbing brush to it. Buy a steamer tool, big or small, ideally with an attachment not requiring bending on the floor.  With steam you don't need any cleaner, only water, and with the mechanized scrubbing brush you need to decide on a cleaning product. I think either one of those ideas might make sense for bigger area jobs.

 

But I decided to at least try out a low tech cheap method. I noticed many videos mentioned the use of hydrogen peroxide (not toxic like beach) mixed with baking soda. You can either mix into a paste or apply the baking soda and spray the peroxide (must be a dark bottle or the chemical becomes inactive). As I had shower walls to deal the paste method was the obvious choice. So I made the paste and applied it to the dirty grout and also some larger mold patches with an old toothbrush. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes and then scrubbed (not very hard needed) with a custom grout brush. Then wiped away residue with a rag, and then water rinse. For the floor parts which I haven't done much of yet, I will let the baking soda get dry, then sweep, then sponge or mop. 

 

This is working very well. Easy enough. For the floor part I can use a small stool. Not a problem for the small area I'm dealing with.

 

One thing that surprised me is that this worked well enough for some minor mold on the tile adhesive areas. The videos all said it wouldn't and that would need to be removed and replaced or cleaned by using rolled up toilet paper or salon coils soaked in bleach. 

 

As an old boss of mine used to say, there are many ways to skin a chicken (it wasn't a kitchen job), well you know the rest ...

Thank you, I really appreciate the information. I have needed to do this but with 2 knee surgeries haven't been able or motivated. Will start tomorrow!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 1/31/2021 at 11:21 AM, lopburi3 said:

I posted several weeks ago about using plain white vinegar spray rather than bleach.  Does not ruin sprayer and does kill mold - a lot safer than using bleach and when come back in two hours to wash not that much smell remaining.  I admit the maid did the chore but it returned plasterboard ceiling to clean white.

 

Lopburi, when you've done the white vinegar approach, were you using a 100% spray, or diluted to some extent with water?  And if the latter, what kind of dilution?  Thx.

 

PS - white vinegar is also an excellent and cheap way of getting the scale out of things like coffee makers and water boilers.  When I clean my water boiler at home, I use one white vinegar bottle like posted above and the rest filled with water, and then let it sit about an hour while on warm... Result is clean like brand new.

 

White vinegar here also is cheap, like 15-20 baht for a 700 ml bottle like shown above.